Sports Game Streamers Aren't Pirates, They're Underserved Customers
from the express-written-consent-is-for-schmucks dept
Like the leaders of many pro sports leagues around the world, the people who run English Premier League soccer are worried that the proliferation of sites that stream their games online will hamper their ability to get broadcasters to sign multibillion-dollar TV rights deals. Now the league says it's planning "an aggressive campaign to protect its intellectual property rights" to protect the TV deals. It's the usual stuff: more cease and desist letters, balanced with calls for governments to get more involved and for ISPs to become copyright cops. The article in The Guardian says that the league is "terrified of following the path of the music industry, which saw its business model collapse after it failed to combat digital piracy."This is typical rhetoric, painting the recording business' problem to be inadequate technological and legal defenses against piracy. It's plainly obvious the issue for the music industry is the failure to adapt its business model to changing times -- and the same could be said for many sports leagues. While the leagues seek to crack down on streaming sites, their existence merely points out missed opportunities for the leagues and their teams to generate business. People don't choose to watch these streams instead of attending a game, or in lieu of watching a crystal-clear legit TV feed in a bar or with friends; they watch them because they're the only option. If piracy is as rampant a problem as groups like the Premier League suggests, it's not a problem -- it's a captive market upon which the league (and perhaps its broadcast partners) should capitalize.
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Filed Under: piracy, sports
Companies: premier league
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Is this true?????
I don't thinks this statement is true. Although some people may watch these streams because it is the only option, the majority, in my personal experience, watch it because it is much comfortable for them: they dont pay to watch the game, they dont have to move from their houses, etc.
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Re: Is this true?????
mc -> "Although some people may watch these streams because it is the only option"
I dont think you can make up your mind.
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Re: Re: Is this true?????
Please comment the real issue, about what do you think of the article, and not if I cannot make up my mind, which is something without any importance to the readers.
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Re: Is this true?????
Okay. No cable and online video is a bad idea. I just want to watch one game. Well, my son found it streamed online. We watched. We enjoyed it. And NHL didnt get any revenue from us - that's not a feature - that's a missed opportunity.
The key here is the NHL needs to provide a real online alternative where you can watch your home team and not pay silly prices - HULU does it. Other online video sites do it. I think the baseball option is pretty good. So why does the NHL lack a complete clue?
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There is a market for that too, and I don't think that it would be hard to find customers for that, but unless you call price undercutting an underserved market, that isn't right.
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Clothes can certainly be artistic, but they do not receive any protection. The preparation of food can certainly be artistic, but yet, it does not receive any protection.
Exactly how does two groups of men running around kicking a ball constitute an original work?! Does me, right now, typing at work constitute a copyrightable act? Does me waiting for the bus with a group of other men constitute an original work? I don't get it.
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Maybe each play should be copyrighted. Then if someone else makes the same play, the person making it the first time could sue for infringement.
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Sky and Setanta
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Other
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Football on TV
How they can justify this I do not understand as they have shown Newcastle 4 days previously v.Arsenal.
This is surely proving the system is flawed as they are denying Thousands the right to view the game.
I would add I am a season ticket holder at Birmingham but Aston Villa have only allocated 1400 tickets for away supporters.
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